Here is an easy-to-make resource which encourages engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (a cross-curriculum priority in the Australian Curriculum).
Ever since I completed a teaching practicum on the APY Lands in central Australia I've been fascinated by the Anangu art symbols and by the Pitjantjatjara language.
My interest prompted me to make some clay story stones using Aboriginal symbols (see the list of symbols and their meanings here). This is something you should get permission from the local community to do if you’re planning on making your own!
So far, we haven't used the stones to tell stories, but we have been testing our recall of what the different symbols mean and trying to identify the symbols in Aboriginal art.
The stones were easy to create out of white handbuilding clay. I fired them, used an underglaze pencil to draw on the symbols, then fired them again. If you don't have access to a kiln, you could make them using real rocks and a Sharpie (I've done that before, too, and it worked just fine). Or you could have your children make them.
Have you ever made or used story stones? What was on them? Please share in the comments.
Dr Dad grew up with a Clinker Family Law: If you get a pink one, you have to kiss mum!
That gave me the idea for the following game (no kissing involved).
You bite a Clinker, then choose a yellow, pink or green quiz card depending on what colour Clinker you get.
The cards review information about 4 different calendars used in Indonesia (answers in the download).
You can get the game for free here on TPT or by clicking the image above.
Delicious family fun!
You could adapt this idea to review other learning, too.
Let me know in the comments if you use my game or make your own using Clinkers! I'd be stoked! If you liked this idea, you might also be interested in how we learn to tell the time with a world clock wall.
Here's a massive list of 100 things for kids to do outside that don't involve electronics, but DO involve lots of great learning and physical development! You're welcome.
Make a fort
Make slingshots
Toast marshmallows on a campfire
Whittle wood
Cook bracken tips to eat
Cook sea lettuce to eat
Use hand-held nets to catch little fish
Crab-hunt on mud flats
Create a seaweed collection
Make a nature mobile
Make a bottle with layered sands
Press flowers
Make an ocean viewer from a clear plastic tub
Play card or board games outdoors
Read books outdoors
Birdwatch
Play catch
Climb a tree
Lift heavy rocks and logs
Shovel
Rake
Dig
Dig with a spoon
Write in chalk
Run through a meadow
Play flashlight tag
Ride a scooter
Ride a bike
Swim
Do cartwheels and handstands
Brachiate in a tree
Hang from a rope swing
Climb a jungle gym
Roll down hills
Squat and look at the ants
Jump off things (rocks, stumps, raised garden beds)
Spin in a circle ten times with eyes open then with eyes closed
Rock hop at the seaside
Go upside down on the monkey bars or swing
Twist a swing up then let it spin you in circles
Use a screwdriver and hammer to make something outside
Play beach cricket
Bodysurf
Balance on logs and ropes
Play tennis against a wall
Bushwalk and bushbash
Go orienteering
Spot nocturnal animals with a flashlight
Identify plants
Explore rock pools
Collect specimens
Take photos
Hop and skip
Wrestle
Pop popcorn over a campfire
Crawl through a homemade tunnel
Splash in puddles
Race gutterboats
Make sandcastles or sand sculptures
Listen to birdsong and copy it
Blow and chase bubbles
Play flags
Play tag
Play hide-and-seek
Play kick-the-can
Skip rocks
Catch insects in a net
Run over sand
Slide down dunes
Climb fences
Shoot Nerf guns at toilet roll targets
Haul buckets of water
Climb a boulder and be king of the castle
Pull each other on a large sheet of cardboard
Plant new flowers
Walk up the tallest hill around
Be swung around in circles by Daddy
Go barefoot
Pick fruit or berries
Play hide-and-seek in the dark
Bring a guitar, light candles in the dark and sing
Collect pipis or mussels
Get and give piggybacks
Use sparklers in the dark
Pop fuchsias
Make a gnome house
Mark trails creatively with rock arrows
Make leaf rubbings
Go geocaching
Play charades outdoors
Play 'mosquito bites' (stick a red dot sticker on each other if you say a particular word)
Play water pistols or water bombs
Make maps using a compass
Learn knots
Search for things starting with each letter of the alphabet in order
Make and bury a time bomb
Create an obstacle course (including reciting funny poems or songs)
Knit
Stargaze
Go on a scavenger hunt to find a funny-shaped rock, a tiny shell, something orange, a piece of garbage, an animal scat, 2 kinds of seeds, and something pretty.
All Inside and no Outside turns this mama into Mister Grumpy, but the above list will fix it.
Time in nature rejuvenates, connects us to the Earth and to each other!
What's on your outdoor bucket list? Please do share in the comments, I'd love to see this list grow.
"In order to make your little nose clearer, more beautiful and full of happiness, this product is necessary for your nose!" - Jaihe Nose Pegs
Yes. Oh yes. Who wouldn't want nose pegs? Plus, they're "anti-germ & stink-proof"!
They came into my possession (I didn't actually buy them) and I just HAD to find a fun use for them.
Here are 4 inquiries we found valuable, the last one including the ridiculous nose pegs. (It's okay, you can just hold your nose.)
1. Four different liquids and milk
My friend Lucy introduced me to the classic dish-soap-and-milk experiment, but I added some extra liquids, so this is really four experiments set up in a single invitation to explore.
Here's the original experiment, where dish liquid bonds with the fat in the milk to create stunning movement, made visible by food colouring:
I set up milk, food colouring bottles and these four liquids:
Treacle
Oil
Water
Dish soap
I left a note saying, "What do you think will happen when you add these liquids to milk? Predict, then test." I added a clipboard and pencil for the boys to record their results.
Then I left it for them to discover.
They had fun playing with the different liquids and noticing which ones floated and sank, which ones combined and which didn't. They tested the dish liquid. It worked, but not as well as in the above video, probably because we used light milk. So that led us to inquiry number 2...
2. Effects of dish soap in liquids with varying amounts of fat
We used cream (35% fat), whole milk (3.5%), light milk (1.4%) and ultra light milk (0.3%).
The results were not quite what we expected, due to the viscosity of the cream. The reaction went on a long time in the cream, but the movement wasn't as widespread as in the milks. Predictably, the movement was more dramatic in the whole milk than in the lighter milks.
Since we had some milk and cream left over, we decided to try another experiment...
3. Scone taste test
We cooked two different batches of scones, one with milk and one with cream, and did a blind taste test to see if we could pick which was which. (Tough life, but someone's gotta do it.)
It was easy to tell the cream scones from the milk ones.
Did you know fat is our sixth taste sense? It's officially called 'oleogustus' and is in addition to sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami tastes.
Apparently there may be a learned component to our taste for fat, too. I wonder, can that help us tackle the obesity epidemic? I want my boys to learn to make healthy eating choices but they're all like...
The scone experiment doesn't actually test the oleogustus taste sense: It's very hard to do that outside a laboratory because foods with varying amounts of fats often have very different textures. Here's how researchers do it if you're interested.
4. Jelly bean taste test
The scone taste testing led us to want to try some other taste tests.
'Sweet' was the easiest one to experiment with.
My sister gave the boys a box of BeanBoozled Jelly Beans (truly for the daring because some of the flavours are gross), so I left out some jelly beans, a blindfold and the nose pegs.
I wanted to see if we could identify the different tastes of the beans without our sense of smell, or if we would only taste 'sweetness'.
The result: It was really difficult to distinguish between the flavours, in spite of my extensive experience with lollies! I couldn't even tell if I got one of the gross ones or their identical-looking delicious counterparts.
Next I think I'd like to try this taste test where you keep a salty cracker in your mouth for an extended period and it eventually turns sweet as the enzymes in your saliva break the starch down into sugar.
These are 4 inquiries we found valuable. If you enjoyed these, please share them! Looking for more science inquiries with dish soap? Try our Harry Potter Chemistry!
"Hang on," I hear you asking, "What exactly is WADD?"
That's pretty much what Dr Dad said last year, on the occasion of the inaugural WADD.
We spent the month leading up to June 17 evading his questions, however I'll spare you that process and just tell you straight up that WADD stands for...
We Appreciate Dad Day
It all started when I discovered my son reading an old book that I absolutelyLOVED in my childhood, Secrets with Ciphers and Codes by Joel Rothman and Ruthven Tremain.
The night before WADD, after my other half was in bed, I covered the kitchen table with balloons, taped streamers across the door, and left him this coded message that the kids and I had created on the computer (Australian Curriculum, Year 3 and Year 4):
Before he could eat breakfast, he had to decode it.
"We Abbreviate Dad Day?" he said.
Each message from that first one led to a different part of the city that was special to him, with a different gift hidden at each location.
You can probably guess that the first one was at the Frog Ponds.
Number 2 took him to what he calls The Friendly Spot, a beautiful jetty.
The next one took us to the sailing club (Frog In A Blender is one of his previous boats).
And the final clue was really, really obscure... too obscure... but it took us back home, where we had a lovely dinner and mini-party.
SO...
It's almost time for WADD again... and I have a ripper of an idea to surprise him! Stay tuned.
We invite you to celebrate the dads in your life with us! Spread love in the world! Please let us know in the comments your ideas for making your dad feel special. If you liked this idea, try a fun family outing using our Leaf Hunt Printable, orHow To Make Someone Feel Special For A Year!
A fear many parents have - myself included - is that our children won't develop the personal and social capability needed to thrive as adults.
We want them to achieve at least some of their hearts' desires, to find love and to be fulfilled in their careers.
We worry that they'll be 35 and still flicking boogers at their brother. (Er, maybe that's just me. Is that just me??)
So, how do we ensure they develop those capabilities?
Following is what we do in my family. I'd love to know what you do in yours.
1. Identify shared values
When our children are babies it's hard to involve them in family decisions, but as they grow I think the aim should be to encourage their input.
Some years ago I gave each family member a list of possible values (like this one here) and asked them to individually circle their top two.
Then we came to a consensus regarding our family values. We chose fun and peace.
It's okay for individuals to have different values, but it's great to find some common ground.
S-Man, who was in about Year 2 at the time, surprised me by writing this beautiful message on his chalkboard:
"Fun and peace make our lives complete!"
Or actually it was...
"Fun and peas make our lives complete!"
We talked some more about what peaceful people do, and we decided to add caring as a value, too.
Living your values sets a good example for your kids. Many people do this through churches or service projects. Two great resources I've seen for young people in this area are ruMAD? and Expedition Class.
Because our school uses the Zones of Regulation, I'm trying to use them at home. The program helps children become aware of their emotional states and move between Zones.
During the school holidays I sometimes print out worksheets that focus on social and emotional skills, such as...
My kids roll their eyes, but usually end up doing the odd worksheet when they get bored! Some kids would hate this: You know your child best.
We also occasionally use this great ACARA blog with lots of inspiring and useful videos.
Warm family time spent together doing enjoyable activities obviously helps, which is the reason I started planning fun activities like this Harry Potter Invitation to Play. But afterschooling activities are just one way that works for us, many families have their own ways to bond.
3. Develop a system for recognising desired behaviours
We use 'Caring Punches'. Nothing violent! Just a simple card and hole-punch system.
Every time our kids are caring or resolve disputes peacefully we get them to give themselves a hole punch on their cards (which are kept on the fridge).
The main value in doing this is really just that it reminds us, as parents, to catch them doing the right things and to keep it positive.
For the first few years of doing this we had a reward of half an hour of screen time, but we've recently increased the overall screen time our children get, so we phased it out in favour of a family outing or special family time together.
There are downsides to having a reward: Obtaining the reward becomes their primary focus and it reduces intrinsic motivation. Rewards and punishments can devolve into a controlling parenting style which research shows can have negative outcomes.
4. Conduct family meetings on a regular basis
Family meetings are a good opportunity to bond, to coach and to air issues.
In our family anyone can call a family meeting, and this is the format we follow:
Each family member thanks or compliments the others
Any issues are raised and discussed
We finish with a joke or funny story
Roo still finds it difficult to give compliments and express his issues, but he enjoys jokes! His favourite:
"What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea!"- Click to Tweetif you're brave!
We often have family meetings on a Thursday, because that's also the day I do my menu plan for the week and I like to ask the kids what they want to cook during the family meeting.
5. Develop a system for dealing with unwanted behaviour
We use 1, 2, 3: Two warnings and then a consequence of loss of screen time for a day. But that's rare.
All this is just what we use, and I'mby no means an expert, just sharing, in the interests of starting a conversation and hopefully improving my own parenting.
If you have serious issues, consult a professional. We have done that before and it was great. Working with your school is also a fantastic way to ensure everyone is using the same strategies!
Making the world a better place starts at home.
So, to develop personal and social capability in our family, we use a combination of direct teaching of skills (I'm not great at this), shared values, punch cards, family meetings and 1, 2, 3. I can't wait to get your ideas. Please tell me in the comments!
I know the merits of NAPLAN are hotly debated, but that's a whole other post.
The purpose of this post is to stop you making the same mistake I did and wasting your money.
This year I had one son doing NAPLAN Year 5. Being a concerned parent, I bought him a cheap School Zone NAPLAN-style practice book from Kmart.
Let me say straight up that I don't think children should necessarily study for NAPLAN.
There's scant evidence for the efficacy of homework in the primary years, and practice books don't actually teach much, they just...er... provide practice.
But I was caught in a weak moment.
I did actually set my son some homework from the book over the weeks leading up to NAPLAN, but then we got to this page...
...and we stopped.
The layout and graphics of the book are both appealing, but unfortunately the book contains numerous mistakes.
On just this one page...
all the examples under 'comparatives' are actually superlatives,
one of them has no available correct answer, and
some of the words labelled pronouns in the answers are possessive adjectives.
Interested to review other similar products, I bought these less visually-appealing Excel NAPLAN-style books from Big W.
I'm happy to report that the content seems to be much better, although we missed the bright colour scheme and graphics of the School Zone book.
I opened the numeracy section of the Year 7 version of the School Zone books and found more mistakes in that, too.
So, if you must buy a NAPLAN-style practice book, I recommend the Excel books over the School Zone ones.
Or just save your money. Shout yourselves to an ice cream instead.
Have you tried any NAPLAN-style practice books? Please share your thoughts about NAPLAN in the comments. If you liked this book review, you might be interested in our favourite maths books or poetry books. New to the Afterschooling Blog? Try our A-Z of Afterschooling. As always, thank you for reading - and please use the buttons below to share this if you find it useful!
While we were away overseas my youngest son Roo read the Harry Potter books and man, oh man, did he ever love them. Well, who wouldn't?
That gave me an idea for some writing and chemistry activities, and I'm not talking about the chemistry between Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger!
Each night for a week I arranged 'potions' (actually kitchen chemical and physical changes) for Roo to discover when he got up in the mornings.
Sshhh, don't tell him it was chemistry! Or that he's really learning how different materials can be combined for different purposes (Year 2, Australian Curriculum).
Here's an example of one I wrote (read on if you can't see the image on your device, and to find the actual substances used):
In case you can't read it, it says...
Confusing Concoction In 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', Harry has to brew this potion but he can't get it right.
Try it yourself! Harry's version: Add golden dragon's blood to water (0.5 cup to 1.5 cups). Add one troll eyeball. Shake well. Has it combined? The Half-Blood Prince's version: As above, but add a few drops of whomping willow sap as needed to cause the liquids to combine (emulsify). Snape's mark:
And there's a space for him to write what mark he would give it.
You can get the printable for free here, or by clicking on the image above.
The dish liquid combines the oil and water because the dish liquid molecules are attracted to both oil and water. Of course we discussed this after he made the potion.
Potions are also a great way to get kids into procedural writing and cooking. Making potions is one of my kids' favourite things to do outdoors.
Look at the great writing Roo did!
And while we're on the subject of Harry Potter, we saw the most amazing thing in Lapland...
Expecto Patronum!
Do you know any chemical combinations which could be turned into fun Harry Potter potions? Please let me know in the comments, as I'm starting to run out of ideas and I've got an 8-year-old begging for more potions!
My son is learning about the needs of living things (Australian Curriculum, Year 1) so we've been creating bird feeders.
We tried a Cheerios bird feeder, but I was concerned Cheerios are not the most natural or healthy of foods for birds, so we took it down. It only seemed to attract ants, anyway.
We also made a toilet roll feeder using peanut butter and wild seed mix. It all washed off in the rain.
Next we tried an apple, still using peanut butter.
Finally we were able to eliminate the peanut butter altogether with this beauty made from a butternut pumpkin.
The pumpkin is definitely the model we'll use again.
UPDATE MARCH 2019: Roo made a wooden bird feeder with his grandfather, which Dr Dad and S-Man mounted on an old boat boom in our backyard. We use sunflower seeds and lorikeet nectar, both found at your local pet supply store.
Do you have any bird feeders in your garden? What's the best model you have found? Have you made any other design & technology creations? Please share with us in the comments! If you liked this post, you might also like a tour of our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Playroom.
The first is a really fun and cheap iPad App called SqueeblesTM.
My son loves it because there's a motivating game as a reward. I love it because I can change the settings to make it progressively more difficult.
Next, to encourage him in his efforts, I put up some cheap thrifted clocks on our back deck.
They are set to the time zones of the places we've lived, so I'm getting some geography in there, too, and hopefully opening his eyes to the rest of the world and our place in it.
Time is a hard concept for young children because our subjective experience of it is so unreliable. It gets really fascinating when you start talking about time zones, different calendars and even... time travel!
What do we want? Time travel! When do we want it? It's irrelevant!
I know, bad joke. But since no-one came from the future to stop me telling it, how bad a joke can it be?
Do you know any interesting resources for learning to tell the time? Do you have any favourite science fiction books about time travel? Please let us know in the comments! Thanks for stopping by. If you liked this post, you might also like our Calendar Clinkers game, or check out our favourite maths games and another backyard improvement, our bird feeders.
Cacti are such a fun way into learning more about the adaptations of living things (Australian Curriculum, Year 5).
I picked up a cacti colouring book for 50 cents from a bric-a-brac stall, which I used to create an invitation with scented playdough and loose parts. I'm in denial that my boys are really too old for playdough now!
All you need is some green playdough, pictures of cacti (and some real cacti would be great, if you have them), toothpicks, and colourful items like pompoms or pipe cleaners. One thing I didn't include, but wish I had, is a picture or diagram of a cactus WITH its roots.
We asked, Why do many cacti have spikes? What are the adaptations of cacti that allow them to survive in their environment? How long can they store water, and how do they do it?
Then we watched this video to answer our questions.
Annie The Destroyer (our dog) had a very sore mouth for a few days after eating most of my sons' prized cacti collection. With some birthday money we bought some more and repotted those that survived to create this little succulent garden (out of doggie reach!).
When we were in Singapore we managed a quick trip to the magnificent succulent garden. The Royal Botanical Gardens in Tasmania also has a great selection for a field trip closer to home.
This activity gave us a greater appreciation for the beautiful diversity of plants in the world (just like the wonderful diversity of humans!).
As the Italians say, il mondo è bello perché varia - the world is beautiful because it varies!
Do you have a favourite unusual plant? Please share in the comments, we love making new botanical discoveries!
Here is a hands-on way you can engage your family with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (A cross-curriculum priority in the Australian Curriculum).
NAIDOC Week is coming up on July 8, and the theme is 'Because of Her, We Can!'
The following activity celebrates the Aboriginal women who create stunning shell necklaces.
First you need the 3-book set Tasmanian Aboriginal shell stringers. You can download a fantastic, free multimedia presentation of the books here! (Requires Flash)
To engage my kids with these books, I set up an 'invitation to create' using string, shells with holes and some beads (not traditional but we didn't have enough shells).
Sourcing the shells sustainably can be a challenge. The folks at Simply Shells get their shells as a bi-product of the food industry or from abundant species.
The books explain which shells are normally used and how the shell stringers create their necklaces. You can check out more in-depth teacher resources here.
Can you think of other ways to engage respectfully with our local Aboriginal histories and cultures? Please tell us in the comments! And if you liked this idea, please spread the love. Looking for more ideas? Try Aboriginal-Inspired Story Stones!
Here are two classifying activities which encourage primary students to hone in on the structural features and adaptations of different animals that help them to survive in their environments. (Year 5, Australian Curriculum)
The first is a classic animal sort activity using plastic toys from Kmart, but I also added photos of us and our dog to the mix (just to see if my sons could resist classifying each other as troglodytes).
They didn't spend long on this activity, just enough time to figure out that all the insects in the bowl were arthropods.
For the second activity I selected some land and sea shells from our nature tray and challenged the boys to classify them using the Molluscs of Tasmania website.
Next we took a wonderful trip to Seahorse World, where we found out seahorses are tough little critters with both a spine and an exoskeleton!
As luck would have it, our friends invited us to the Brightside Farm Sanctuary (by appointment only) so we were able to investigate the features of camels and other fascinating rescue animals.
I'm not sure how much of what we learnt has stuck, but the boys certainly won't forget that 'benthic' means 'bottom-dwelling' (they thought that was hilarious).
Do you have any classifying activities to share? Can you recommend any interesting field trips? We'd love to know about it in the comments.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this post about animal features, you might also like exploring the features of plants through this Cacti Invitation. For another activity using shells, try Aboriginal-Inspired Shell Necklaces!
There was some work I wanted to finish off before our next BIG adventure overseas when - BAM! - we all came down with a horrid gastro and that put paid to that!
What's worse than cleaning vomit out of sheets? Cleaning diarrhoea AND vomit out of sheets! Too much information?!
Anyway, we're almost over that and now it's ADVENTURE time!!! We will be worldschooling for the next few months; travelling and not attending traditional school.
Here's what we're taking.
1. Weekly schoolwork packets
We'll be learning by immersion (think zoos, museums, national parks, gladiator school) but there will be down time to fill so I've made up some work packs for quiet table time.
The packs contain one English and one maths activity per weekday.
I made them by cutting up workbooks and adding a few ideas from around the web. They'll only take the kids about half an hour a day, tops.
At the front of each week is a ticksheet with that week's work, so the boys can manage their own week.
There's also a kecap (roughly pronounced 'catch-up') week for anything we don't finish (because we love Indonesian sweet soy sauce, or kecap manis).
2. Activity bag
In this I have stuff for S.T.E.A.M. and some outdoor play items to encourage motor skills.
There are over 50 activities that can be done with the items, everything from making a thumb piano to playing one-handed catch.
String
Hacky sack
Pegs
Marbles
Streamers
Balloons
Hundreds and thousands (had to use these up!)
Skewers
Ziplock bags
Straws
Rubber bands
Feathers
Pom-poms
Google eyes
Post-it notes
Paper plates
Chalk
Pipe cleaners
Masking tape
Paddle pop sticks
Yahzee
Playing cards
Hair pins
Medium squishy ball
They all fit in one A4 ziplock bag.
3. Kindles
This is self-explanatory. If you have bookworms in your family, these are fantastic!
4. iPad with Homeschool Helper and a few other Apps
I'm using the Homeschool Helper App to log the educational activities we do, then at the end I can generate a report including how many hours we spent on each subject. Nerd heaven.
We have a few educational Apps, too. Our current favourite is Chemist.
5. Recorders
We love our routine of playing piano twice a day, so we have bought recorders to play while away. Am I crazy to combine young boys and a bunch of recorders in small apartments and hotels?!
5. Family Adventure Journals
We keep journals about our adventures even when we are home, and we'll continue that.
So that's a round-up of what we're taking on our worldschooling adventure!
Have I missed anything? What would you do for a term away? Please tell us in the comments!
Here's me packing the suitcase (low quality iPhone footage):
UPDATE: Wow, what an amazing journey we had! So much great learning and family bonding. It was challenging at times, but ultimately the most wonderful life experience. Everything we took was useful, although we didn't do much recorder playing (ehem). Thanks to those people who followed our adventure on Instagram!
